Dreaming of a Disney spring break - part three COMPLETED About This Page:

[KMB733]

Great pictures from your boat ride around DTD!!

[jenseib]

I really want to go to T-Rex someday. It looks so neat.
Loving the boat ride pictures too. What a relaxing afternoon!

[bonphil]

Great photos from your boat ride!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by emmalovesdisney

Love those photos of your room!
It is quite surprising how close Wilderness Lodge is to The Contemporary - or is that a trick on the photo?

No tricks from me - I think they are pretty close, as they're both on the edge of Bay Lake.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by mdobereiner

Just catching up on your TR's! I finished your first 2 of this trip last night- and immediately told Allen that I NEED to cruise on the Dream! I checked last night to see if there were any sailing dates that would work with our Jan trip but I don't think any do

That's a shame.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lindawdw

I've never eaten in TRex but we've gone through the restaurant several times since it opened to show friends, and I have to say that I feel they did a great job on the theming of this restaurant! They do seem to offer large portion sizes that could be shared with another person for sure! Glad you enjoyed your time on the boat at DTD - looks like fun! Love your room at BLT and a nice view too. Since you've stayed in all the Deluxe hotels at WDW - which one would you say is your favorite? I know that's a difficult question for most Disney fans to answer but which do you feel most excited about staying at when planning a trip?

I will say now that we haven't stayed in all the deluxe resorts - we've stayed in all the DVC resorts, so we've never stayed at the Polynesian, Grand Floridian or the Yacht Club.

However, it's no problem picking a favourite for us - the Beach Club. We fell in love with it when we first saw it on our honeymoon in 1999 and it's an ongoing love affair! Our second favourite is most definitely the Animal Kingdom Lodge, as we love the savannahs there.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Big Baloo

UhOh. I don't think I"m liking the title of the next installment. I'm guessing you're out of the cruise bubble?

I think that would be fair comment...

[DMA]

What wonderful views you had!

[taylan1]

Originally Posted by chezp

However, it's no problem picking a favourite for us - the Beach Club. We fell in love with it when we first saw it on our honeymoon in 1999 and it's an ongoing love affair! Our second favourite is most definitely the Animal Kingdom Lodge, as we love the savannahs there.

I have to completely agree with you Cheryl. Although we have not been able to afford to stay at either of these resorts we visit them very often and their restaurants and just find the we really love these resorts. Some day we will stay at both of them, Beach Club first since I really love this resort the most as well.

I certainly hope that your next installment is not as bad as it sounds like it is going to be.

[mcc0313]

Love the pictures from your time on the water looks like everyone was having a good time driving.

Great views from your room, I do like the look of BLT but it does look like quite the hike to get back to the Contemporary and the ammenities there.

[unewillow]

Loving the scenic shots from BLT.

You know, I've said it bfore, and I'll say it again...as much as I want to try and stay at all the WDW resorts, the Contemp/BLT just don't have a draw for me. I feel like you're living in an IKEA showroom, lol.

[Cam22]

The boat ride around DTD looks like fun! We may have to try that some time as I think Stefanie would really enjoy it. Great pictures from BLT!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by mcc0313

Great views from your room, I do like the look of BLT but it does look like quite the hike to get back to the Contemporary and the ammenities there.

I guess it depends where you are in Bay Lake Tower. it would probably add five minutes if you're at the far end of one of the wings, but literally it was probably about a three minute walk over to the shops on the fourth floor of the Contemporary - plus any wait time to get an elevator, which worked well for us.

[chezp]

Sunday 17 April – part five: I’m sure that’s bad serving practice!

We got cleaned up and changed and headed off for the long journey to the California Grill, all five minutes’ walk of it. We got some photos from the room just before we left, with the sun starting to set and a few more on the way over there.




We quickly found Elaine and Keith on the second floor and they already had the pager. We chatted for a while downstairs and then headed up to the 15th floor. As always, when we come here, we ere amazed at the clothes people turn up in. I know I’m probably a bit of a snob in that respect and I do appreciate that shorts are not on the list of things you can’t wear here, but for goodness sake, this is a fine dining restaurant and it would be really nice if everyone made an effort to dress up just a little bit.

We got upstairs and our pager went off almost immediately. We were taken to the furthest away table, facing Bay Lake, which meant no view of Wishes for us, but it wasn’t a bad view and we got to see some of IllumiNations instead.



Things started promisingly enough, when we met our server, Taz, who seemed nice enough, but things just went downhill as the evening wore on. Mark and I ordered a bottle of Riesling Spatlese that we like (and nearly died when we got the bill for $60! - that will be the last bottle of wine we order this vacation! ) but when Elaine and Keith said they didn’t want any wine, he started to get a bit funny with them. I really don’t like that kind of attitude from servers and he also mis-understood quite a few things that we asked him as well.

The service seemed to be exceptionally slow, with no explanation as to why everything was taking so long. As the meal wore on, we all felt that he became more and more disrespectful in little ways. The icing on the cake for me was that he actually asked me for the check, when we had done the tips and then he looked at what he had got while we were seated there. I thought that was bad practice! After that, I wanted to get out as quickly as possible, as he didn’t get a good tip from me. :

Anyway, on to the food, which was thankfully better than the service, but then, that wouldn’t be hard! Mark and I shared the spring vegetable flatbread, which I thought was a bit more spicy than it should’be been and the Kazan sushi rolls, which were just as good as usual, although knowing how hot the fireball sauce is, I was careful to avoid that.



For entree, I went for the Arctic char and that was excellent, although it was way too much for me. Had I finished it, there is no way I would’ve had any room for dessert, but the flavours combined together perfectly.



Mark had the beef and subbed out the mashed potatoes, as they are quite creamy, for roast potatoes. He seemed to really enjoy it.



For dessert, there was only one choice for me and that had to be the Valrhona chocolate cake. This time, it had strawberry with it, which was unusual and I wasn’t sure that it went as well as previous versions I’ve had Still, it was good, all the same.



Mark had the butterscotch bread pudding and again, that seemed to be another winner.



Really, apart from the service, the food still really delivered, which was something. It’s always a relief when that happens and it still remains one of our favourite restaurants on Disney property, despite the poor service.

California Grill:

Appetiser 8½ 9½
Entree 9½ 9
Dessert 9½ 8
Service 6 6½
Atmosphere 9 9
Value for money 8½ 8½

Average score: 8.46

We headed down to the ground floor, where Elaine and Keith got a taxi and then walked the long way back to our room, getting some night-time shots when we got there.



The weather today was hot and sunny with temperatures in the 80s.
The best thing today was going out on the lake with Sharon, Sean and Ciaran.
The worst thing today was leaving the Dream and the poor service at the California Grill.
[b]The funniest thing today was “tickle the T-Rex’s foot and he won’t get you”
Today we tried going out on a Boston Whaler around Downtown Disney’s main lake
And the result was it was a lot of fun, but a shame we couldn’t get as far as the resorts.
The most magical moment today was watching the sun set over the Contemporary.

[b]Next: you’ve got no record of us?

[Alex'sMummy]

Just catching up with your TR. Your room at BLT looked very nice. Was it a studio room? I've not yet had the chance to stay at BLT yet, but would love to try it at some point if we can get a reservation.

Sorry to hear that the service was poor at the California Grill. I can't believe how rude the server was by checking his tip whilst you are still at the table.

Rachel